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Since I was experimenting with the video surveillance Xeoma from Felenasoft I wasn’t really happy with it running as a VM on my Xen Server 6.5 host. Mainly because I also run my Internet gateway/firewall (IPFire) on that host. And since I’m so lucky to have 500Mbit (up and down) fiber in my home, I want to spend as much resources (as necessary) to my Internet gateway. I really don’t want another VM hogging my host resources.

Since I’m a major fan of Aliexpress I started a quick search there and stumbled upon the Orange Pi development boards. Positioned as Raspberry Pi alternative this looked like a really good (and in most cases) cheaper alternative.

The absolute positive thing about the Orange Pi is that there are versions with a SATA connector. A video surveillance system can use A LOT of disk space if you want to record EVERYTHING 🙂 Having the option to use an old laptop harddisk for storage was the main reason I decided to order one.

But searching for a version I found that there are a lot of different Orange Pi’s. I decided to make the comparison table below for my own use.

Orange Pi

One

Lite

PC

PC Plus

Plus

Plus 2

Plus 2E

CPU Speed

1.2Ghz

1.2Ghz

1.6Ghz

1.6Ghz

1.6Ghz

1.6Ghz

1.6Ghz

Memory (shared with GPU)

512MB DDR3

512MB DDR3

1GB DDR3

1GB DDR3

1GB DDR3

2GB DDR3

2GB DDR3

SATA port

–

–

–

–

Up to 2TB

Up to 2TB

–

Onboard Flash (EMMC)

–

–

–

–

8GB

16GB

16GB

Ethernet (RJ45)

10/100M

–

10/100M

10/100M

1GB

1GB

1GB

Wifi

–

yes (unknown chip)

–

–

IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (Realtek RTL8189ETV)

IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (Realtek RTL8189ETV)

IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (Realtek RTL8189ETV)

Audio Input

–

Onboard Microphone

Onboard Microphone

Onboard Microphone

Onboard Microphone

Onboard Microphone

Onboard Microphone

Audio output via HDMI AND CVBS

–

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

USB 2.0 Ports

1x HOST / 1x OTG

2x HOST / 1x OTG

3x HOST / 1x OTG

3x HOST / 1x OTG

4x HOST / 1x OTG

4x HOST / 1x OTG

3x HOST / 1x OTG

Buttons

Power

Power

Power

Power

Power / Recovery / UBoot

Power / Recovery / UBoot

Power / Recovery / Uboot

GPIO(1×3) pin

–

–

UART / ground

UART / ground

UART / ground

UART / ground

UART / ground

Other

–

IR input

IR input

IR input

IR input / Uboot

IR input / Uboot

IR input / Uboot

Size (mm)

69 × 48

69 × 48

85 × 55

85 × 55

108 × 60

108 × 67

108 × 67

Weight (grams)

36

36

38

38

50

83

52

Price (september 2016)

$10

$12

$15

$20

$39

$49

$35

I decided to order the Orange Pi Plus 2. It has 16GB built in flash, so no need for an SD for booting. It has the much wanted SATA connector. It has 2 GB of internal DDR3 ram, should be enough for even a surveillance system.